Method of surfacing track



May 15, 1962 w. B. BLIX ETAL 3,034,452

METHOD OF SURFACING TRACK Filed Jan. 27, 1959 INVENTORS. WiATZ/A/ 5. 54M./0///1/ 1?. 1905/01/15? BY ar%r ZZdF/) 14 Z zomeys.

United States Patent 3,034,452 METHOD OF SURFACING TRACK Weltzin B.Blix, South Milwaukee, and John R. Rushmer, Milwaukee, Wis., assignorsto Nordberg Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation ofWisconsin Filed Jan. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 789,440 13 Claims. (Cl. 104-2)This invention is in the field of railroad track surfacing equipment andmethods and is concerned with a method of removing what might bereferred to as minor surface variations in the track.

After being in service for quite a while, the joints between adjacentrails get beat down due to the traffic going over them. This is probablydue to the fact that a slight gap for expansion and contraction is leftin the joints between the butt ends of adjacent rails. The Wheels of thetrafiic when rolling over these joints or gaps will fall or drop amicroscopic amount when they roll off of the end of one rail beforehitting the adjacent end of the next rail. The fall or drop, whilesmall, nevertheless means that a shock or blow is applied to the end ofthe next rail. After several months or years, the joints on a muchtraveled road will be depressed or beat down, and it ischaracteristically true of well used track that the joints are low andthe center of the rails will be high. This is true whether there is oneWay traffic or trafiic in both directions. It is also true in trackregardless of whether the joints are directly opposite each other inadjacent rails or staggered, which is the more conventional arrangement.Low joints in track result in an extremely rough roadbed.

A primary object of this invention is a method of correcting such lowjoints in track.

Another object is a method of surfacing track to remove minor surfaceirregularities.

Another object is a method of jacking the joints in track with maximumaccuracy.

Another object is a method of raising the joints in an accurate mannerwhen the joints are staggered.

Another object is a method of jacking the joints with both speed andaccuracy.

Other objects will appear from time to time in the ensuing specificationand drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic side view of the method; and

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic side view, similar to FIGURE 1, of anadditional feature.

In FIGURE 1, a surfacing assembly has been shown which may include rearand front cars and 12, respectively. A line 14 extends between the frontand rear cars and the line may be a wire or a pair of wires, or anynumber of wires for that matter. If a wire is used, it is preferred thatit be suitably tensioned so that as little sag as possible will exist.But it should be understood that the invention is not restricted to awire and any line establishing medium may be used.

The assembly additionally may include a jack, designated generally 16,which may carry or be associated with a sensing device, designatedgenerally 18, constructed to sense the distance between the wire or line14 and the rails. Suitable spacer buggies or bars may extend between thebuggies or cars and the jack so that the entire assembly may be rolledalong the track and the same relative spacing will be maintained. Theassembly may be self-propelled or it may be pushed or pulled. Anassembly of this general nature is shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,974,607,issued March 14, 1961, and for details and additional informationreference is made to that application. For purposes of illustration, itwill be assumed that the entire assembly is moving from left to right asindicated by the arrow 20.

ICC

The two end cars or buggies should be constructed so that the line 14may be established at a predetermined distance above the rails at eachend. This is to say that each end of the line should be positioned thesame distance above the rails so that either a line or a plane will beestablished by the assembly which will be a uniform distance above therails at each end and in between.

The track is made up of rail and in FIGURE 1 two such adjacent railshave been shown and are designated generally 22 and 24. The ends ofthese rails come together at a joint 26 and, as shown, a slight gap,somewhat exaggerated in FIGURE 1, is provided so that the rails mayexpand or contract in hot and cold weather. Only two such rails havebeen shown in FIGURE 1 because the invention can be adequatelyillustrated and explained in connection with only two rails, butadditional rails both ahead and behind the assembly are present. Thusthere will be a joint, as at 28, ahead of the assembly and another, at30, behind.

Below the diagrammatic showing of the rails and the surfacing assemblyin FIGURE 1, a scale has been laid out with the length of each railbeing designated generally L from one joint to the next, with the centerof each rail designated /2 and the quarters designated and A.

The length of the line from the front to the rear station or buggy isimportant and it will be noted in FIGURE 1 that the rear end of the lineon the rear car 10 is in the middle of one rail, as at /2, and the frontend of the line on the front car 12 is on the forward quarter of thenext rail, designated Thus the line is a rail length and a quarter long.The rear car or the rear end of the line will be positioned in themiddle of the previous rail and the front end of the line or front carwill be positioned on the forward quarter of the next rail.

The jack and sensing assembly are positioned approximately a half a raillength from the rear car 10 so that when the front and rear cars withthe ends of the lines are in the position set forth above, the jack willbe over a joint, designated 26 in FIGURE 1. The sensing mechanism 18will sense the distance that the joint is low and the jack 16 may beused to raise the joint until the sensing mechanism 18 indicates thatthe joint is back up to the proper position and is spaced thepredetermined distance from the line 14, which is the same as thedistance established at the front and rear cars 10 and 12. It will benoted that in raising the low joint 26, the rear half of the forwardrail 24 will pivot or flex upwardly and may be considered to pivot aboutits mid point, designated generally 32 in FIGURE 1. Thus the forwardhalf of the rail, from 32 to 28, will not be affected when the joint 26is raised, or if affected, it will be very slight. It should be notedthat the for: ward car with the forward end of the line is positioned onthis unaffected half of the forward rail. At the same time, the rear endof the wire or line is over the center 34 of the rear rail, and theforward half of the rear rail, from 34 to 26, may be considered to flexupwardly about 34 as its pivot when the joint is jacked. But the raisingof the forward portion of the rear rail 22 will have little, if any,effect upon the position of the rear end of the line. It will also benoted that the rear half of the rear rail 22, running from 30 to 34, isshown as generally level since the joint 30 has previously been raisedor corrected and the old or low position is shown in broken lines.

As soon as the joint 26 has been raised, the jack 16 may have a tampinghead so that the joint may be suitably tamped or otherwise maintained inits new position. Then the entire assembly may be moved forward untilthe jack and sensing arrangement come to the next joint. At the nextjoint, as before, the rear car should be approximately a half a raillength behind the jacking station and the front car should bethree-quarters of a rail length ahead, and the relationship set forthhereinabove will be reestablished.

The importance of the distance relationship of the line relative to arail length is that when a joint is raised, the two ends of the linewill not be aiiected and these are the points where the line issupported. At the same time, the line must be sufficiently short thatthe minor dips or irregularities caused by low joints will be reflected.If the line is excessively long, for example 120 feet, the minorvariations, such as low joints, will not show up but only the majorclips or sags will be sensed. In short, an excessively long line willnot pick up or detect low joints. So the line must be relatively short,but at the same time it must be long enough so that the supported endswill not be shifted a detrimental amount when a joint is jacked.

As is conventional with track, the joints are normally staggered. Asshown in FIGURE 2, the near rail is in heavy or solid lines and the farrail is in broken lines. The joint 36 between the two adjacent rails 38and 49 of the near rail will be in the middle or center of a rail 42 ofthe far rail, while the joints 44 and 46 of the far rail will belaterally opposite the center of rails 38 and 40 in the near rail. Itshould also be noticed that FIGURE 2 has been shown directly below therail section of FIGURE 1 so that the joint 36 of FIGURE 2 lines up withthe joint 26 of FIGURE 1. For this matter rails 38 and 40 may beconsidered the same as rails 22 and 24 of FIGURE 1. Also, the surfacingassembly may be considered positioned on the track of FIGURE 2 with therear car at A, the forward car at B and the jack and sensing assembly atC. The stations A, B and C are directly below the assembly shown on thetrack in FIGURE 1. It may be considered that the joint 44 has previouslybeen raised or jacked so that the rear car at the station A will behorizontal and in proper position. The jack at station C, however, willhave its far wheels high since they rest in the center of the far rail42 and its near wheels low since they are positioned approximately onthe low joint 36. In this sense the car will be tipped somewhat. Thefront car 12, positioned at B, will be on the forward quarter of thenear rail 40 and the rear quarter of the far rail, only the rear half ofwhich is shown, as at 48. Since the quarters of uncorrected track arehalf way between the high center and low joint, the track at this pointmay be considered to be only half low, if that much.

The point is that the rear car will rest on totally correct track andthe front car will be on quarters which are approximately correct or alittle low, while the jack and sensing assembly or station will betipped a maximum amount. The jack, as shown in the above referred toprior application, will be used to raise the low joint 36 until it islevel with the center of the far rail 42. In this situation two lines orWires may be used to establish a plane or one may be used and doubledback to give two lengths with one tensioning arrangement so that thesame amount of sag or deflection will occur in each or will balance out.

After the low joint 36 has been brought up, the entire assembly is movedforward and the rear car 10 will next be positioned at point C. The jackwill be over the low joint 46 in the far rail and the front or forwardcar 12 will move to the next quarter beyond the last joint 50 shown inFIGURE 2. The entire assembly will move in a step by step manner withthe jack working on joints alternately, first in the near rail, then inthe far rail, and each step will be a half rail length long. In eachcase the rear car Will be on corrected track and the line support willbe accurate. The forward car will be on a quarter and the inaccuracy ordeflection Will be at a minimum. The jack will be over a joint of eitherone rail or the other where the depression or variation is a maximumand, accordingly, a maximum correction may be applied. It the line wereexactly or approximately a rail length long, this would put the forwardcar or buggy over an uncorrected joint which would tilt it a maximum.But on the quarter, the forward buggy will be level and fairly close toproper elevation.

The use, operation and function of the invention are as follows:

The invention is concerned with removing what may be considered minorirregularities in the surface of track and is specifically concernedwith low joints which inevitably occur. Normally the joints between thenear and far rails are staggered with the joint of one occurring in thecenter of the other, as shown in FIGURE 2. Thus the procedure of movingthe entire assembly in steps of a half rail length long is quiteadvisable. The length of the line or plane established should be a raillength and a quarter long so that the rear support will be on correctedtrack and the forward support will be on the forward quarter of the nextrail, which will not be affected or at least will be affected to aminimum degree during jacking of the joint behind it. Also, the forwardbuggy or car or station will rest on a quarter where the deflection ordepression will be at a minimum and the buggy will be level orrelatively so.

The length of line or plane is short enough so that the joints may beaccurately raised and brought to a new position but at the same time isalso long enough so that the ends of the line or wire or plane will notbe affected during jacking.

While the preferred form and several possible modifications of theinvention have been shown and described, it should be understood thatsuitable additional modifications, changes, substitutions, alterationsand variations may be made without departing from the inventionsfundamental theme. It is, therefore, wished that the invention beunrestricted, except as by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A method of removing depressions at the joints in railroad track madeup of rails of a predetermined standard length interconnected end toend, including the steps of establishing a line above the trackgenerally parallel thereto and an equal distance above the track at eachend, making the line approximately a rail length and a quarter long,establishing a jacking station in the line, positioning the line andjacking station on the track with the jacking station at a pointapproximately a half rail length from the rear end of the line, sensingany increase in the distance between the line and the track at thejoint, jacking the joint up to the predetermined distance previouslyestablished when such increase exists, and moving the line and jackingstation along the track from one joint to the next and jacking thejoints up where such increase is detected.

2. The method of claim 1 further characterized by and including the stepof establishing a generally horizontal plane above the track generallyparallel thereto an equal distance above the track at each end, andestablishing the jacking station in the plane.

3. A method of removing depressions in track made up of rails of apredetermined length interconnected end to end, including the steps ofestablishing a line above the track generally parallel thereto and anequal predetermined vertical distance above the track at its front andrear ends, making the line approximately a rail length and a quarterlong, establishing a jacking station in the line approximately a quarterrail length from the rear end, moving the line and jacking station, as aunit, along the track with the same relatvie spacing and, at the sametime, maintaining the ends of the line at the predetermined verticaldistance above the track, sensing variations in the vertical distancebetween the track and the line at the jacking station, and jacking thetrack up to the predetermined distance previously established betweeneach end of the line and the track.

4. The method of claim 3 further characterized by and including the stepof positioning the line and jacking station on the track with thejacking station at a joint, sensing any increase in the distance betweenthe line and the track at the joint, jacking the joint up to thepredetermined distance previously established when such increase exists,moving the line and jacking station, as a unit, along the track from onejoint to the next with the jacking station positioned at the joint, andjacking the joints up where such increase is detected.

5. A method of detecting minor surface variations in track made up ofrails of a predetermined standard length, including the steps ofestablishing a line above the track generally parallel thereto and anequal distance above the track at each end, making the length of theline slightly greater than a rail length, establishing a sensing stationin the line between the ends thereof closer to the rear end, moving theline and sensing station, as a unit, along the track and, at the sametime, maintaining both the same relative spacing and the ends of theline at the predetermined distance above the track, and sensing anyvariations in the vertical distance between the track and the line atthe sensing station.

6. The method of claim further characterized by and including the stepof jacking the track up where any variations are sensed until thepreviously established distance between the track and the line isestablished at the sensing station.

7. The method of claim 5 further characterized by and including the stepof making the length of the line approximately a rail length and aquarter long.

8. The method of claim 1 further characterized in that the step ofestablishing a line above the track includes disposing and tensioning atleast one wire above and generally parallel to the track.

9. The method of claim 1 further characterized in that the step ofestablishing a line includes positioning a wire along the track anddoubling it back on itself so as to define two lengths, disposing eachlength generally over a rail spaced laterally from each other, eachlength being generally parallel to its rail, and applying tension to theends of the wires so that the same amount of sag will occur in eachlength.

10. The method of claim 3 further characterized in that the step ofestablishing a line above the track includes disposing and tensioning atleast one wire above and generally parallel to the track.

11. The method of claim 3 further characterized in that the step ofestablishing a line includes positioning a wire along the track anddoubling it back on itself so as to define two lengths, disposing eachlength generally over a rail spaced laterally from each other, eachlength being generally parallel to its rail, and applying tension to theends of the wires so that the same amount of sag will occur in eachlength.

12. The method of claim 5 further characterized in that the step ofestablishing a line above the track includes disposing and tensioning atleast one wire above and generally parallel to the track.

13. The method of claim 5 further characterized in that the step ofestablishing a line includes positioning a wire along the track anddoubling it back on itself so as to define two lengths, disposing eachlength generally over a rail spaced laterally from each other, eachlength being generally parallel to its rail, and applying tension to theends of the wires so that the same amount of sag will occur in eachlength.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 507,091Italy Dec. 28, 1954 OTHER REFERENCES Nordberg Progress Magazine, 4thQuarter 1956, pages 10 and 11. (A copy of these pages are on file inDiv.

34, Class 104-7.)

